It was a year of contrasts on the south coast, with Southampton celebrating promotion, Portsmouth dropping into League One, and Brighton bobbing along quite nicely. Photograph: Andrew Couldridge/Action Images

Barnsley

Dream or nightmare? It's been a season of two halves at Barnsley, with an exceptional start made by Keith Hill in comparison to previous regimes, but ending up in the worst points tally than any other season since our return to the Championship. Half dream/half nightmare, filled with delirium, characterised by anxiety, disorientation, hallucinations, delusions and incoherent speech.

Top marks Jimmy McNulty has been consistent throughout the season (40+ appearances). Cultured on the ball.

Bottom of the class Jay McEveley became the scapegoat of the Ponty End. Now at Swindon. Problems have remained at the back nonetheless.

The Gaffer Despite a disappointing finish, Keith Hill has done enough to impress in his first Championship season. Survival may be enough for the board, but fans may get restless next season.

Best moment Ricardo Vaz Tê's hat-trick in the humbling of Leeds at Oakwell

Birmingham City

Dream or nightmare? For me, it's been a brilliant season. Maybe not as successful as some would have liked, but all I wanted was some fun in Europe and consolidation after our summer woes and we've surpassed that. What's made it better is we've scored lots of goals, played some nice football and the fans have united behind the manager. We've even brought through a couple of good young prospects into the first team which is something that hasn't happened for a while. Whilst things are looking nightmarish in China for our owners in light of the recent financial developments I can honestly say that I'm happy with the team.

Top marks Chris Burke – 14 goals and 18 assists point to a player who deserves a chance in the top flight.

Bottom of the class I'm going to go with Liam Ridgewell; looked uninterested, played like he didn't care.

The gaffer Top marks to Chris Hughton. He's given us goals, he's given us entertainment, he's given us pride yet never hogs the limelight for his achievements.

Best moment Chris Wood, last minute in Brugge – 5000 Blues fans go crazy in the away end. A very special day.

Worst moment Coach getting a puncture on the way back from Braga turning a 27-hour journey into a 39-hour one.

Best fans A toss up between Pompey and Leeds I think

Worst fans West Ham. Although my innate hatred for claret and blue might have made me biased.

Blackpool

Dream or nightmare? Our season has been consistently inconsistent. Even though there is relative continuity in terms of playing staff the loss of key players took some time to overcome. The result has been a different team in terms of style, less focus on possession and more on rapid counter-attacks. Arguably when on form this team is more destructive when they attack than the team that went up the last time around and the signing of Stephen Dobbie has been inspirational. Entering the final third of the season the team was leaking a lot of goals, but they refocused on their defensive work after some shocking defending in a 3-1 defeat to Reading. That hard work paid off and we ended the season looking like a team who knew how to defend, keeping five clean sheets in the last seven games. The play-offs await.

Top marks Matt Gilks has been brilliant all season, he has looked fitter and stronger as well as producing jaw- dropping saves that have been inspiring to witness.

Bottom of the class Even though most of the players have dipped in form from one time to another, no player can be targeted for their poor performance.

The gaffer Ian Holloway has been superb once again. He has had a couple of 'moments' where he appeared to be losing faith in himself as he was trying to bring together this 'new' team, but overall he has given Blackpool fans another team to be very proud of.

Best moment Given the side Holloway picked was a surprise, the 3-0 win at home against Southampton had a little bit of everything from a penalty save to some outstanding team play.

Worst moment The 3-1 defeat away to Burnley was about as poor as Blackpool have been during Holloway's reign, and although it wasn't clear at the time, it proved to be a real turning point in our season.

Best fans The Portsmouth fans driven by passion, fear and (most possibly) booze just kept singing all match long and even for some time after everyone had gone home.

Worst fans Most sets of fans seem to enjoy their trip to the seaside, but with seven arrests on the night, I think Leeds's minority served to cause unnecessary aggro both outside and within Bloomfield Road.

Brighton & Hove Albion

Dream or nightmare? It's been a dream. Any promoted side would be happy to finish 10th, after all it's our highest league finish in over 20 years. For a long time this season, though, it looked as if it was going to be even better, but a solitary win in the last 10 league games put paid to any play-off ambitions that had crept in. Realistically, it would be churlish to complain – offered 10th place and a good FA Cup run before a ball was kicked, any fan would have taken it in a heartbeat. On and off the pitch it can only go down as a marvellous season, full of magical moments and great goals. The days of the Withdean Stadium, the battle to build the Amex and brushes with financial meltdown seem a long way away.

Top marks Despite only playing regularly since March, Vicente has shown more class in 16 league games than most players manage in 160. That feels particularly harsh on the consistently excellent Liam Bridcutt and Gordon Greer, but Vicente is already a club legend.

Bottom of the class No player really deserves to be singled out for criticism, but Ryan Harley and Casper Ankergren have been disappointing.

The gaffer No manager gets it right all the time, but Gus is doing a fantastic job. Uncompromising with our passing style, but prone to unprofessionally storming off before the end of a match.

Best moment Putting a strong Newcastle side out of the FA Cup in the fourth round. We rode our luck, but earned the Amex its first famous cup night.

Worst moment The own-goal bonanza against Liverpool in the FA Cup was painful, but the 3-1 home defeat to Crystal Palace hurt more. We were 1-0 up after 80 minutes.

Best fans Wrexham's supporters were fantastic during our FA Cup tie and replay.

Bristol City

Dream or nightmare? A nightmare, but one we woke up panicking from in the nick of time. There's a truism about seasons fighting relegation being more exciting than mid-table ones, and wins at the end of the season against Forest, Coventry and Barnsley felt like our biggest results in years, but the lows were awful; a run of 3-0 away defeats which felt as though it would never end was the worst part. We reaped the whirlwind of a series of badly handled managerial successions and transfer windows, leaving us with a squad always an injury away from catastrophe – it took a well-timed run sparked by some vital loan signings to pull us clear. It can't be like that again, though, and I'll take the dull mid-table season next time please.

Top marks Jon Stead won the fans' award but Kalifa Cisse would be my pick – involved in good runs at different points in the season, he came in from the cold to give us the cool head we desperately needed in central midfield. We're a better team with him there.

Bottom of the class The aimless long-ball that bounced off David James's gloves and into the net v Watford was a cruel way for Father Time to make his point, but I'm pretty certain that the wages we pay a declining 41-year-old can be better used elsewhere next season.

The gaffer It's fair to say that if Keith Millen knew what his strategy was, he didn't make it clear to anyone else, and his successor clearly had no idea what to make of the dog's breakfast of a squad he inherited. Despite this, Derek McInnes used the group extremely well at the two most crucial stages of the season (those in which we were in the bottom three). He hasn't answered every question the fans have quite yet, but it's difficult to see what another manager would have done better than he has, and most fans are looking forward to seeing what the Scotsman does in his first Bristol summer.

Best moment Holding out at Forest for a 1-0 win of the kind I'm obliged to describe as "battling", keeper Dean Gerken did one of those faster-than-the-eye mid-air jerks keepers do to keep out what looked a certain equaliser from Joel Lynch. Vital in getting us the Easter weekend six-point haul that essentially kept us up.

Worst moment When I think of winter 2011-12, I'll think of despondent journeys back through the gloaming after comprehensive defeats against moderate opposition. Pick any of those: Crawley in the Cup or Peterborough in the league work equally well.

Best fans Always like visiting Brighton, their fans have had a lot to deal with and continue to do so with real dignity.

Worst fans West Ham, purely for inaccuracy; if we're only "here for the West Ham", explain the higher attendances in the games either side v Barnsley and Burnley. You're 'avin' a giraffe.

Burnley

Dream or nightmare? Neither, really. Last summer was tough with so many key players leaving and we didn't replace them adequately, Eddie Howe didn't get enough backing financially. We didn't show enough consistency to challenge for the top six, but were always going to be safe despite looking dodgy in October and November. Hopefully next season will be more exciting, although it looks like we'll be selling our top players and replacing them from the bargain bin like last summer. It's sad to see chairman Barry Kilby stepping down to fight cancer after a long – and mostly successful – spell at the helm of the club.

Top marks Kieran Trippier and Jay Rodriguez have both been outstanding and could move to the Premier League this summer, but Charlie Austin has been a revelation and will score 30 goals next season if he stays fit.

Bottom of the class Keith Treacy was signed to fill the creativity gap left by Chris Eagles and failed miserably, ending the season shipped out on loan to League One. (An incident with an unfortunate picture on Twitter is probably best left unmentioned in a family newspaper.)

The gaffer He's done as well as could be expected given the budget restraints he is operating under, but we need to stop going on bad runs of defeats at key points of the season.

Best moment Ross Wallace's free-kick at home to Blackpool was excellent – especially after he had to fight off Andre Amougou to take it – and it was one of our brightest performances.

Worst moment Throwing away leads against Leeds, twice, due to terrible defending in both matches.

Cardiff City

Dream or Nightmare? Dream! As I said in my very first post, Cardiff City fans would have been happy with a season of consolidation this time out as long as we would see that things were moving in the right direct. So for Malky and his team to have now qualified for the play-offs and to have performed so bravely at Wembley in the Carling Cup final is a superb season. Our players give absolutely everything for the shirt and I can honestly say that when you see them walking off the pitch, they leave nothing out there. We may not win every game but that's not through the lack of hard work. The team, manager and fans are totally united going forward, we win together and we lose together. It's an excellent time to be a Cardiff City fan.

Top marks People will say Peter Whittingham and he has had an excellent season but you could also say Joe Mason, Ben Turner, Andrew Taylor, Don Cowie, Mark Hudson who have all been brilliant again. What a find Joe Mason is by the way.

Bottom of the class There isn't one player who hasn't tried or hasn't put a shift in this season so there is no way that I could pick someone out, they've given everything.

The gaffer What can we say about this man? He's been exceptional this season and I have to say it ... destined for far bigger things than Cardiff City, just not yet. He has totally united the club, players and fans, 10/10

Best moment I think it probably has to be a toss up between either Joe Mason or Ben Turner's goal in the Carling Cup final. Both meant a massive amount for different reasons but I'd probably go with Turner's for the sheer hysteria that went on after it.

Worst moment Well we haven't had many but I guess it was losing the Carling Cup final in the way we did. I would never blame the players who missed because they had the bottle to go up, It was just a horrible way to lose.

Best fans I think the Palace fans in the second leg of the Carling Cup semi – they brought 4,000 to the CCS that night and created a good atmosphere.

Worst fans Coventry brought a very small amount of fans and I didn't hear them until their 94th-minute equaliser.

Coventry City

Dream or nightmare? We started bad, got even worse, then a little better … then finished the season looking like an absolute abomination of a team. For everyone who saw the Southampton game, you probably wondered how we'd even managed to remain competitive for this long, given the kids we were playing. But let's be clear; it hasn't been kids all year. Options have been limited, but we had more than enough opportunities to grab the points for safety. That's been the most disappointing thing; no matter how many chances were afforded to us, we simply didn't have the bottle – either on the pitch or with the tactical approach from the sidelines – to take any sort of advantage. It was always going to be a tricky season with the constant financial worry looming over us. However, I'd hope that everyone at the club, like the fans, will feel they still could have done a whole lot better than they did.

Top marks Richard Keogh has been the closest we've had to a player being consistent throughout the course of the campaign.

Bottom of the class In comparison, David Bell has managed one acceptable performance all season (and that was as a sub).

The gaffer The negativity in approach, even when wins were vital, makes it difficult to feel too sorry for him. Not had a fair deal from the owners, though.

Best moment Oliver Norwood's goal in the last minute to Cardiff gave us all hope that we might have the fight for the battle.

Worst moment Sopping wet at Bristol City in the biggest game for years, with a ball-boy taking the giant mick, as we watched the team fall apart before our eyes.

Best fans It's easy when you're winning, but the Southampton fans were ever so gracious in giving us a royal spanking on each occasion.

Worst fans I hate to generalise because we all have quiet games, but the Watford fans seemed mostly uninterested when we played them at Vicarage Road. The game was naff, mind.

Crystal Palace

Dream or nightmare? Neither really, more of a comfortable night's slumber, with a few of those weird moments where you get excited and kick out in your sleep, mostly caused by things like winning at Old Trafford in the League Cup and being the first league team to beat rivals Brighton at their shiny new stadium. The second half of the season though, has been more like a coma with most fans ready to switch-off the power way before the end of the campaign.

Top marks Mile Jedinak. The same chap I slagged off in the half-season report has come good. More than good. So good I still get tweeted what an idiot I am.

Bottom of the class Kagisho Dikgacoi, or KG to those of us who still can't pronounce his name, which is all of us. Overweight, slow and injury prone. KG is perhaps an apt nickname.

The gaffer Palace finished five places higher than last season and reached the League Cup semi-final, so Dougie Freedman can be very pleased. The football at times, though, has been dire which is odd coming from a striker who was wonderfully mercurial in his playing days.

Best moment Easy – Darren Ambrose's 40-yard ripsnorter (just discovered this word and can't stop using it) at Old Trafford. Gary Neville called it the best goal OT he has ever seen and who am I to argue?

Worst moment League Cup semi-final defeat to Cardiff on penalties. Heartbreaking, especially for the relatively young team who had carried us there.

Best fans Portsmouth weren't bad considering the pain their fans are going through and the fact we all witnessed a turgid 0-0 draw.

Worst fans Wigan. Brought about 12 fans to Selhurst during the League Cup early on. To be fair Conor Sammon was playing.

Derby County

Dream or nightmare? A decent night's sleep disrupted by a screaming baby in November and February. The season was better than previous years but two winless months cost us any chance of being in the play-off mix. On the bright side, we've got a glut of good young players coming through and the squad is looking leaner than it has done in years, with Nigel Clough getting rid of around a dozen players this season that were nowhere near the first team. Doubling Forest and Leeds was a highlight for the fans and earned Clough plenty of goodwill.

Top marks Jason Shackell – leader of a much improved defensive unit.

Bottom of the class Chris Maguire – we had high hopes when we signed him in the summer. He's scored some great goals on loan at Portsmouth but barely featured for the Rams

The gaffer Clough has done well overall this season and finally has his own squad after three years of rebuilding.

Best moment Beating Forest twice; once with 10 men, then with an injury-time winner. Perfect.

Worst moment Captain Shaun Barker being ruled out for over a year with another serious knee injury.

Best fans Crystal Palace brought a good following to a match with little at stake.

Doncaster Rovers

Dream or nightmare? Nightmare. Our second tier sojourn wasn't supposed to end like this; we were supposed to amble off into the sunset like The Littlest Hobo having taught everyone a lesson about sticking to your principles, but instead we got greedy, panicked, and gambled relatively solid foundations and a glowing reputation on a flawed strategy encompassing most of the game's ills which failed spectacularly. It's hard to convey the pain of seeing this unfold, but imagine you discovered your loved one was having an affair … and then imagine that affair was with Willie McKay.

Top marks Sam 'der Kaiser' Hird deserves credit, established himself with some solid centre-half performances, which were even more impressive considering his partner at the back Habib Beye was doing much of his week's training in the south of France.

Bottom of the class Take your pick from the many heralded members of 'the experiment' here to lead us to the promised land; Herold Goulon was as ineffective as he was tall, Lamine Diatta and Damien Plessis meanwhile were invisible; never seen beyond the headlines gleefully embracing their arrival.

The gaffer Sean O'Driscoll – a poor run of results, but hardly deserving of unceremoniously being given two hours to clear his desk just before three of his key men were set to return. Dean Saunders, 'a breath of fresh air' we were told, more likely a cacophony of soundbites, strategies as yet hard to determine, but it's hard to make any solid judgement on his managerial prowess whilst the shadow of 'the experiment' looms large over him and us.

Best moment The first half at Brighton on the opening day was quite fun … it kind of went downhill after that, though the full-time whistle on Saturday brought a pleasant exhale of breath. Over at last.

Worst moment Pretty much everything that went between those two highlighted above; watching Saunders squirm out of disciplining El Hadji Diouf after photos appeared of him at a nightclub hours before the game at Southampton was a particular low, making it blindingly obvious McKay's imports could do no wrong.

Best fans Portsmouth's support at the Keepmoat was phenomenal, as brilliant a backing as I've ever seen a club given.

Worst fans Not strictly terrible, but Derby's support was curiously chino-heavy, meaning the Keepmoat North Stand resembled a Vampire Weekend tribute convention. One fan even chose to invade the pitch despite wearing skin-tight beige chinos. Truly the ugly side of football, no-one wants to see.

Hull City

Dream or nightmare? Not quite a dream, but certainly not a nightmare; maybe a pleasant doze sums it up better. Few stunning highs but mercifully few plunging lows, it was a season of steady progress with a slight sense of "what if" over a missed opportunity but no real regrets. We've had very many worse.

Top marks James Chester, a defender of rare class and composure for whom the Premier League cannot be far away.

Bottom of the class Cameron Stewart, not necessarily for being our worst player but for falling a long way short of his substantial potential.

The gaffer Nigel Pearson established the foundations onto which Nick Barmby has built (or had until his inexplicable suspension)

Best moment A Holland 1974-style goal by James Chester during a 3-0 win at Cardiff that kept us in the play-off places and when anything seemed possible

Worst moment Hearing that Nick Barmby had been suspended for reasons unknown, about two hours ago ...

Ipswich Town

Dream or nightmare? A recurring nightmare in that it wasn't much different from most recent campaigns. Despite another summer of signings, the traditional early season optimism was dashed by a 5-2 home defeat to an excellent Southampton and then a preposterous 7-1 loss at Peterborough. An improved spell was followed by seven defeats on the trot (the last four clubs to manage this at Championship level were relegated, then relegated again within a couple of years), before an equally ludicrous 5-3 win at Barnsley having been 2-0 down at half-time. Things improved in the final third with the Blues losing only four times in the last 19 games but another lower mid-table finish, 15th, was far from celebrated.

Top marks Skipper Carlos Edwards has been the most consistent performer and shows little sign of slowing down at 33.

Bottom of the class The fact that a number of players had their contracts settled mid-season tells a tale with already-departed Ivar Ingimarsson probably the least successful of several of last summer's experienced signings.

The gaffer Paul Jewell himself has admitted making mistakes with his summer of 2011 business. Rather than taking the previously outlined long-term approach, he brought in veterans such as Ingimarsson, Lee Bowyer, Nathan Ellington and last season's loan star Jimmy Bullard in order to bring about a quick fix. It didn't work and more recently there's been a return to the longer-term view.

Best moment Beating West Ham home and away, particularly the 5-1 at Portman Road.

Worst moment That Peterborough game does rather stand out.

Best fans Portsmouth's fans stayed behind singing for an hour after we beat them at Fratton Park not long after they had re-entered administration.

Worst fans Didn't like the way Peterborough fans celebrated seven times. Not really their fault though.

Leeds United

Dream or nightmare? Nightmare. It's been an absolute disaster of a season. 2010/11's player of the season (Max Gradel) and our homegrown club captain (Jonny Howson) were sold off and the result was all too predictable. We had an excellent team in League One that should have been built upon to take us to the next level, but instead, key players have been sold and no investment has been provided for their replacement. Ken Bates is too busy building executive boxes and pointless vanity projects to care.

Top marks Ross McCormack by a mile. He's not only a class above everyone else in the team but he's better than 99% of the players in this division. His first touch is Premier League class, and he's capable of taking players on and creating chances for himself. Top goalscorer at the club despite playing half the season on the wing – that tells you everything.

Bottom of the class I feel a bit sorry for the lad, but Paul Rachubka's brief spell in goal cost us dearly. It was almost like he had a total breakdown, it was incredibly painful to watch.

The gaffer No complaints about Simon Grayson. His key players were sold from beneath him and he was never provided with the funds to replace them. Neil Redfearn made the best of a bad situation, we can't really blame him for anything. As for the other Neil, time will tell. His record speaks for itself, but we were told he'd be able to get the best out of the players already at the club when he arrived, and his record this season is worse than Grayson's so he's got a lot of work to do yet.

Best moment It has to be Nottingham Forest away when the packed-out away end spent 11 minutes singing Gary Speed's name relentlessly, following which Robert Snodgrass scored Leeds's opener. We went on to win 4-0, although they got their revenge later in the season (seven-all on aggregate! Penalty shoot-out?)

Worst moment The sale of Jonny Howson, closely followed by the sale of Max Gradel. Both were young, irreplaceable assets that should have been guiding us towards the Premier League.

Best fans Blackpool's came in good numbers and made plenty of noise, although that's hardly surprising considering the scoreline (which we won't mention).

Worst fans Arsenal (FA Cup) springs to mind. If they spent half as much effort getting behind their players as they do moaning and berating them, they'd probably have more success.

Leicester City

Dream or nightmare? Nightmare might be putting it a little strongly, but to spend as much as the club has and to find ourselves a point worse off this season than last has been a sobering experience. You could point to most of the dozen matches we lost by a single goal. You can blame referees for our record number of red cards. You can blame luck. The fact is this Leicester team had neither the character or creativity to make it to the top six, let alone the automatic promotion places. When you win just 14 points against the bottom half at home, you don't deserve anything.

Top marks Kasper Schmeichel has been a huge improvement for Leicester at the back and we have to hope Nigel Pearson can fend off advances from other clubs.

Bottom of the class Scapegoating has been far too prevalent at Leicester in recent times, Jermaine Beckford and Ritchie Wellens have borne the brunt of it this year.

The gaffer Points per game under Sven-Goran Eriksson — 1.46. Points per game under Nigel Pearson — 1.47. We'll never know what Sven would have managed given a full season, but hopefully the owners will afford Nigel Pearson that courtesy.

Best moment The 4-0 win over Derby County was the glimpse of what we naively believed would be on show every week, it was downhill from there.

Worst moment In a season of false starts it's difficult to pick one, but a 2-1 home defeat to Barnsley in which the visitors more or less scored the same goal twice probably clinches it.

Best fansDoncaster Rovers for their conga around the away end as we all but ended any realistic chance of their survival.

Worst fans A minority of Nottingham Forest for some particularly boneheaded chants and a larger contingent from the same club whose insistence they 'don't care' about us has become particularly tiresome.

Middlesbrough

Dream or nightmare? If you look at our home and away form this season then you'd have to say both. A dream away from home and a nightmare at the Riverside. Up until about Christmas it seemed like automatic promotion was realistically within our grasp. However, our usual festive hangover kicked in and together with injuries to key players the play-offs began to feel like an acceptable compromise. Of course by the end of the season it was a different story altogether, gnashing our teeth over dropped points as we grasped at the coat-tails of Cardiff, hoping they would slip up on the final day. Of course relying on others for your own advancement is never the best way to progress, so all things considered I think we've done well and certainly progressed; but could have done so much better. However, this was Tony Mowbray's first 'full' season in charge, so the fact we were even talking about promotion is testament to the good work he has done and I wouldn't swap him for anyone else right now.

Top marks Between Nicky Bailey and Barry Robson for me, two players who have given their all this season, their efforts should have been rewarded with at least a play-off spot but it wasn't to be.

Bottom of the class Kevin Thomson will need to do an awful lot next season to win over the crowd again

The gaffer Beyond all expectation, he's had the occasional wobble and some fans have questioned his judgement on the odd issue, but there is simply no better man to drive this club forward. It's in his blood

Best moment Probably the 90th minute applause the team received on the final day of the season. Despite missing out on the play-offs the fans still wanted to let the club and the players know what the season had meant to them, it was a galvanising display of loyalty

Millwall

Dream or nightmare? Finishing in 16th place might not have seemed like the most scintillating prospect back in August, yet given our poor start and lacklustre run of results up until February, comfortably avoiding the drop ensured that the campaign was ended on a high. The signings of Andy Keogh, Harry Kane and Maik Taylor were crucial in our transformation from relegation fodder to the division's form side, and in winning five of our last six games, there is now a real sense of optimism for the future at The Den. Many supporters just want the season to end when safety has been guaranteed, but on recent showings, I wish it was only just getting started. So it's neither dream nor nightmare, our season has been both disappointing and impressive at different stages.

Top marks Midfielder Nadjim Abdou has had yet another outstanding season with the club, and fully deserved to receive his player of the season award for the effort and determination he has displayed.

Bottom of the class It's been a disappointing one for David Forde, who himself would probably agree after losing his status as first-choice goalkeeper.

The gaffer Kenny Jackett will no doubt have been delighted to steer clear of relegation in such a manner. Interestingly he feels that the tragic loss of club legend Barry Kitchener gave his players the determination to put things right on the pitch, but he must also take credit for his tactical acumen and diligence in the transfer market.

Best moment The signing of Andy Keogh from Wolves forced a real turnaround in our fortunes; he has been fantastic.

Worst moment The passing of our all-time record appearance holder, Barry Kitchener, at just 64 years of age. He epitomised everything that a Millwall legend should be, and is sadly missed.

Best fans We were away to Cardiff the day after Barry Kitchener's death, and their participation in a tribute to the man was greatly appreciated by everyone at the club.

Worst fans Crystal Palace's away support made for a drab affair both on and off the pitch.

Nottingham Forest

Dream or nightmare? A nightmare. With a silver lining of escaping the drop. A strategy-busting appointment of Steve McClaren was a disaster — it led to a rift with our owner who, even more tragically, passed away. We replaced Schteve with Steve, and frankly whilst most would acknowledge he took on a tough job, he isn't convincing — indeed, it was Sean O'Driscoll's arrival on the scene that coincided with Forest's relatively strong finish.

Top marks Joel Lynch — dependable, solid and finally getting the chance to make a centre half berth his own.

Bottom of the class Gosh, take your pick! I'm going to pick Ishmael Miller – expensive, slow, uninterested, the first touch of a brick wall and more one-footed than Heather Mills.

The gaffer Schteve was an unmitigated disaster, Steve scraped in with the bare minimum of avoiding the drop.

Best moment Leeds United 3-7 Nottingham Forest — come on, who didn't raise an eyebrow when that result came in?

Worst moment The news that Nigel Doughty had passed away cast an impenetrable shadow over what was already proving to be a gloomy season.

Best fans Leeds fans visited us after another tragic loss to football, their Gary Speed tribute was pretty spectacular at the City Ground.

Worst fans Bristol City were still fighting the drop but brought a tiny and quiet following to see us. Poor show!

Peterborough United

Dream or nightmare? Something in between probably. As much as we originally targeted staying-up in the division as our main objective – something which we have achieved fairly comfortably — the season promised so much more for the first half of it and it's trickled out a little, with the club picking up just four league wins in 2012. That said, for us to be a Championship club next season is a fantastic achievement considering the clubs that are in the division and our relative stature in comparison to them. We've had some memorable victories along the way too – a 7-1 victory over Ipswich and 3-1 defeats of Blackpool and Reading stand-out – so we're all very pleased with how this season has gone and hope we can push on for next campaign.

Top marks Craig Alcock has been immense throughout the season at full-back. Signed from Yeovil, he admitted the other week that he wasn't expecting to play more than 10 games for us this season, but he's been an ever-present since September and has hardly put a foot wrong. Gabriel Zakuani also deserves a mention. He's played a sizable amount of this season with a broken toe and recently dislocated his shoulder – meaning he hasn't been able to train – but has somehow insisted on continuing to play and has been a rock at the heart of our defence.

Bottom of the class It's hard to single-out somebody as every one of our players has contributed a lot this season, but Lee Tomlin has struggled to adapt to the Championship at times after showing a lot of promise last campaign; he's probably been the biggest disappointment.

The gaffer Darren Ferguson has been absolutely fantastic for us this season. The job he has done should not be underestimated and we all hope that the recent rumours that he is set to become the new Wolves manager are nothing more than speculation.

Best moment The 7-1 win victory over Ipswich was pretty memorable, as already mentioned. It's our biggest win at this level and we utterly thumped them.

Worst moment Pinpointing one moment that's been particularly bad is actually quite difficult, but conceding in injury time against Leeds to lose 3-2, after playing for over an hour with 10 men was pretty gutting.

Best fans West Ham. Brought over 5,000 fans on a Tuesday evening and they made a lot of noise. Impressive.

Worst fans Reading. You're challenging for promotion and take fewer than 1,000 fans to a game in March. Poor.

Portsmouth

Dream or nightmare? A recurring nightmare. This season has been exactly what I dreaded would happen: more financial problems, another administration, a tiny squad scythed down to minuscule proportions and the inevitably drawn-out relegation. It started with the tiniest glimmer of hope for a fresh start with some stability and realistic aims, but we've limped from one crisis to another. When your captain, goalkeeper, and player of the season each have to go out on loan to save on wages, you know things are desperate. The one positive has been the reaction of our fans: defiant and united when staring into the abyss. We'll probably end up buying the club ourselves.

Top marks Jason Pearce, for leading by example and showing that he understands what it means.

Bottom of the class Tal Ben Haim. £35k a week. Enough said.

The gaffer Steve Cotterill was inept and uninspiring. Michael Appleton was inexperienced, but has been a revelation – he's one of us.

Best moment David Norris's last-minute equaliser against Southampton – and the look on their fans' faces.

Worst moment Every time we get told the club will probably be liquidated.

Best fans Doncaster Rovers, for being loud and respectful despite getting relegated.

Worst fans Reading, with piped-in music after goals and silence at all other times, despite their success.

Reading

Dream or nightmare? I think it's safe to say that Reading's season, in particular the second-half of it, has been an absolute dream. The form that we've been in since Christmas has been almost unbelievable and, pessimist that I am, I was waiting for the game where it would start to unravel. But that game never really came and to first win promotion and then the Championship trophy as well — incredible. It would be fair to say that the signing of Jason Roberts was a turning point in our season — his experience and guile helped to eke out victories where we might otherwise have struggled to complete the job. And it's clear that he has been an important figure in our dressing room as well. And with a new owner coming in, the future looks bright. Anton Zingarevich has made all of the right noises so far, so we hope he will build on the good work that Sir John Madejski has done for the club.

Top marks Officially our player of the season was Alex Pearce but, for me, it was his partner in central defence Kaspers Gorkss who deserves the plaudits for organising our back line, making it the meanest in the division and his experience has rubbed off on younger players around him.

Bottom of the class Hard to pick a donkey after a season like this one, but Simon Church has perhaps been our weakest player. The signing of Jason Roberts showed how much we needed the extra quality in attack and I'd be surprised to see Church feature much next season.

The gaffer I can't praise Brian McDermott highly enough. After taking us to the play-off final last season, before losing his best players in Shane Long and Matt Mills, the gaffer has created a title-winning team, despite having to rebuild the side. And he turned down Wolves, where I live and commute to the games from. Legend.

Best moment An easy one this – the pitch invasion when we were promoted was the season's highlight. I couldn't make the game when we won the Championship six years ago, so personally it felt great to be involved in the celebrations this time around.

Worst moment The loss at home to Watford in September was our fifth in a row and, I'll admit, did make me question my decision to buy a season ticket and drive down from Wolverhampton every other week for the games …

Best fans I was amazed at how many Nottingham Forest fans stayed behind to applaud us after we beat them at the Madejski Stadium to secure promotion. Even during the madness of the pitch invasion, that stuck with me.

Worst fans A small portion of the Crystal Palace visiting fans to the Madejski didn't exactly cover themselves in glory, ripping up advertising hoardings and trying to offer everyone out for a fight. But the ones I met outside the ground later were fine!

Southampton

Dream or nightmare? To say the season exceeded our wildest expectations is a gigantic understatement. To begin with I was expecting a season of consolidation following promotion from League One. After all, Saints were just starting year three of a five-year plan to return to the Premier League. Right from the thrashing of Leeds on the very first day, it was clear that Nigel Adkins was aiming a whole lot higher than consolidation. Never out of the top two all season is real consistency and the only slight blemish was allowing Reading to overtake us at the death.

Top marks Without doubt Rickie Lambert, he took to the Championship like a duck to water. Imperious. Jos Hooiveld comes a close second. An inspired signing from Celtic this season.

Bottom of the class It has to be Bart Bialkowski, the reserve goalkeeper. He only started one league game, having done well in several cup games, but he had an absolute nightmare at home against Blackpool.

The gaffer Nigel Adkins may talk in cliches, but he may well also turn out to be the best manager we have ever had. Always upbeat and never ever moans about anything.

Best moment The final day after the first goal against Coventry. The whole weekend then passed in a haze. Simply wonderful!

Worst moment Losing to Reading at home, after having more than 70% of the play, 23 shots on goal and nine on target with only a single goal to show for all the pressure. They had three shots on target and scored 3 goals. Mugged.

Best fans Coventry. Showing dignity and spirit in the face of utter misery. Been there, done that. I hope they manage to recover as we did.

Watford

Dream or nightmare? This season may not have had the highs of last year, but looking back it's clear Watford's 2011-12 has been greater than the sum of its parts. Under a new manager and shorn of pivotal performers such as Danny Graham, Don Cowie and Will Buckley the year got off to a terrible start and it looked like we were going to be in for the relegation scrap so many had predicted. Slowly though, results started improving and whilst we were never going to win many plaudits for our style of play, we became very hard to beat. The departure of England U21 striker Marvin Sordell left many of us wondering where the already rare goals were going to come from, but Troy Deeney performed admirably – making up for his lack of finishing prowess with an astonishing refusal to give up on anything. The inspired loan signings of Michael Kightly and Alex Kacaniklic provided us with some much needed width and creativity and we ended up briefly flirting with the play-offs before finishing neatly nestled in 11th. 'Anything but relegation' was the phrase on all Hornets fans lips before the season began, so to end comfortably mid-table has to represent success.

Top marks Watford fans have seen Adrian Mariappa come through the youth ranks, developing season by season into something that now looks uncannily like a top class defender. This hasn't gone unnoticed, and during the January transfer window he rebuffed approaches by both Wigan and Newcastle to stay with the Hornets, cementing his place as a Hornets legend.

Bottom of the class Striker Chris Iwelumo was unfairly targeted by a section of Watford fans, whilst a series of clangers from keeper Scott Loach meant he was on the wrong end of a bit of treatment too. For me though, this unwanted accolade has to go to Mark Yeates. A winger, he failed to provide any spark and creativity, struggled to beat a man and put in consistently dreadful crosses. Apart from that, he played a blinder.

The gaffer Sean Dyche had already won me over by virtue of looking incredibly scary and sounding even scarier. (If you haven't heard him interviewed I urge you to do so). After a poor start he was criticised by many for not fielding more of Watford's promising crop of academy graduates, but he did a fantastic job of turning things around and an 11th place finish when most people expected relegation speaks for himself. Well played sir.

Best moment Beating Millwall away on transfer deadline day amid furious speculation about the future of Adrian

Mariappa and the departure of top scorer Marvin Sordell hours before kick of spoke wonders about the commitment and professionalism of this Watford team. Equally impressive was turning round a 0-2 deficit to beat Burnley 3-2 at home – the encapsulation of a never say die attitude and it was a joy to behold.

Worst moment Shipping a last minute equaliser at home to Leeds was tough – we tore them apart for the majority of the game and to let it slip at the death was tough. A personal lowlight was Pompey away on 2 January. I had persuaded my three-year-old daughter to accompany me, but she had a change of heart at the turnstiles. I finally managed to cajole her inside to witness us lose 2-0 and have a man sent off in conditions that would seem cold at the north pole.

Best fans I think the Peterborough fans are a good bunch. They understand where their club currently sit in the grand scheme of things and as such have reasonable expectations. They appreciate it when their team plays decent football, but also accept they aren't going to win every week. They strike me as having the balance right.

Worst fans West Ham fans are almost a parody of themselves now. Their 'We're West Ham United, we play on

the floor' chant is as cringeworthy as it is hilarious. Shut up and get on with it. I know it's a bit out of my remit, but the 'Kean Out' brigade at Blackburn need to have a long hard look at themselves too.

West Ham United

Dream or nightmare? Currently in purgatory, pending play-off results. But overall, this season has been positive and some good philosophies have been drilled into the club – namely not losing, and winning away. Going up will be great but I have no real qualms about spending another year in this league, and waving to Southampton and Reading as they sink back down next season, whilst doing the double over Sheffield United, it will be worthwhile just for that.

Top marks Kevin Nolan has weighed in with important goals and been a class leader on the pitch.

Bottom of the class John Carew – thought he might contribute with a few goals but he's about as effective as a mannequin.

The gaffer It's been tetchy at times, but after Grant and Zola, I'm very happy to have someone as experienced as Sam. He could have taken some of our criticism on the chin however.

Best moment Winston Reid's winner against Millwall, after Julien Faubert body checked their keeper, put a smile on all of our faces.

Worst moment Reading smashing us at home after outplaying them for 40 minutes was a bit of a KO

Best fans Watford fans are always an inoffensive bunch

Worst fans Reading fans didn't make many friends over here, especially with their sock waving references to Collison v Kebe